M365 Roundup, July 2024: The Entra Suite Arrives and Microsoft Starts Turning On MFA For You
TL;DR
- During the week of August 5, 2024, Microsoft automatically turns on its managed Conditional Access policy requiring MFA for per-user MFA users, after a 90-day report-only period.
- The new Microsoft Entra Suite became generally available in July 2024, bundling Private Access, Internet Access, ID Protection, ID Governance, and Face Check in Verified ID Premium.
- OneDrive accounts unlicensed for more than 90 days will be automatically archived and made inaccessible to end users under a new storage policy.
- Dynamic watermarking, in preview, stamps the consuming user's information onto Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files via Microsoft Purview sensitivity labels.
- As of August 30, 2024, the Send password in email feature is retired from the Microsoft 365 admin center in favor of the Print option.
July 2024's wave is heavy on identity and data protection. Microsoft shipped the new Entra Suite, set a date to automatically enable its managed MFA Conditional Access policy in tenants, started archiving long-unlicensed OneDrive accounts, and put dynamic watermarking into preview. Teams, Outlook, and Copilot fill out the rest. Everything that matters, grouped by product, with the action items called out.
One piece of our own news first. CloudCapsule, our automated tool for assessing Microsoft 365 tenants against the CIS Controls, is in soft-launch. We built it to streamline tenant assessments to a trusted standard, raise the tide of security across the space, and help MSPs understand the why behind every policy configuration.
Beyond automated evidence collection for the CIS Controls, it detects tenant misconfigurations against security best practices, and you can run your first assessment against a tenant free. Note that it does not work against M365 dev tenants.
The change that needs action before August 5: Microsoft is enabling MFA for you
As part of the Secure Future Initiative (opens in new tab), Microsoft created managed Conditional Access policies (opens in new tab) in tenants, including multifactor authentication for per-user MFA users (opens in new tab). These have been in report-only mode (opens in new tab), generating reports without blocking access. After 90 days in that mode, they will be automatically turned on during the week of August 5, 2024. Once enabled, all covered users will need MFA. This applies only in tenants eligible for Conditional Access.
Required action before August 5, 2024:
- Review the effects and benefits of the policies. To prevent automatic enabling, set them to Off; you can set them to On at any time.
- Customize the policies for your needs, such as excluding emergency access accounts. For more extensive changes, duplicate the Microsoft-managed policy and edit the copy.
- Verify that every covered user has registered at least one MFA method. Run a registration campaign to set up Authenticator if needed.
Identity and admin: the Entra Suite and two retirements
New Microsoft Entra Suite (GA)
A unified solution for secure access management, identity verification, and Zero Trust across cloud and on-premises resources. The suite integrates five capabilities: Private Access, Internet Access, ID Protection, ID Governance, and Face Check in Verified ID Premium. Together they streamline user onboarding, add automated workflows, and apply Conditional Access to reduce security gaps, block lateral attacks, and replace legacy VPNs. Full announcement: New Microsoft Entra Suite (opens in new tab). Pricing: Microsoft Entra Plans and Pricing (opens in new tab). Rollout: GA.
IPv6 enablement for Accepted Domains
Starting October 1, 2024, Microsoft gradually enables IPv6 for all customer Accepted Domains that use Exchange Online for inbound mail, to help meet local regulations and gain the security and performance of IPv6. More: IPv6 support in Microsoft 365 services (opens in new tab). After IPv6 is enabled, an MX record query for the domain returns both IPv4 and IPv6 (AAAA) addresses.
Send password in email retires August 30, 2024
The Send password in email feature is being retired from the Microsoft 365 admin center starting August 30, 2024. Use the new Print option in the Microsoft admin center to save user account details and share them securely. Admins will no longer be able to receive usernames and passwords by email after this change.
OneDrive update for unlicensed accounts
After this storage policy takes effect, any OneDrive accounts unlicensed for more than 90 days are archived automatically and become inaccessible to end users. Admins can still view them with admin tools, but users cannot access them until admins act. For example, an account unlicensed on August 1, 2025 is inaccessible to users as of October 1, 2025. View unlicensed accounts under SharePoint admin center > Reports > OneDrive accounts; access begins for some admins as early as July 26, 2024 and for most closer to August 16, 2024. Options:
- Set up Archive billing for unlicensed accounts to access and edit the archived files
- Delete the unlicensed OneDrive account, if no retention policy applies to it
- Renew the unlicensed account to maintain access
Helpful links:
- Manage unlicensed OneDrive user accounts (opens in new tab)
- OneDrive retention and deletion (opens in new tab)
- Delete a user from your organization (opens in new tab)
Microsoft 365 apps: dynamic watermarking for sensitive files
Dynamic watermarking is a new sensitivity label setting that stamps the consuming user's information onto content in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files. Sensitivity labels (opens in new tab) from Microsoft Purview Information Protection classify and protect organizational data. More: (Preview) Dynamic watermarking for sensitivity labels in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint (opens in new tab). Rollout: mid-November 2024, completing by end of November 2024.
Microsoft Teams: renaming, desks, and Teams Rooms
Rename the General channel
Team owners can give the General channel a meaningful name, after which it sorts alphabetically in the channel list for all members. Rollout: mid-August 2024, completing by late August 2024.
Automatic location updates on bookable desks
Previously users manually set their work location in Teams via their profile photo. Now bookable desks update it automatically. After admins enable automatic location updates (opens in new tab) at the tenant or group level, users enable it under Teams > Settings > Privacy > Sharing your work location, and connecting to a bookable desk sets their location to In the office if it was previously Unknown or Remote. Setup: Setting up Bookable Desks in Microsoft Teams (opens in new tab). Rollout: early August 2024, completing by late August 2024.
Video tile re-sizing for Teams Rooms on Windows
In Gallery view, the room video tile dynamically re-sizes based on people count to allocate equitable space to in-room participants. Rollout: early September 2024 (previously mid-August), completing by mid-September 2024.
Roster grouping for in-room participants via Proximity Join
When joining a meeting in a Teams Room on Windows with a companion device, in-room participants joining through Proximity Join are grouped under the room node, with UI elements clarifying who is together in the room. Rollout: mid-September 2024, completing by late October 2024.
Microsoft Outlook: simplified mobile sign-in
In Outlook on the web, users go to the Help tab and select the new Outlook mobile option to get a QR code. Scanning it with the Outlook mobile app signs them in without entering a username and password, using their Microsoft Entra identity, and keeps them signed in until they manually sign out.
Microsoft OneDrive: more file-type filters
You can now select from additional file types to filter your lists of files in OneDrive on the web. Rollout: mid-July 2024, completing by late July 2024.
Microsoft Intune: background OneDrive syncing on macOS
Before this rollout, the OpenAtLogin plist controlled whether OneDrive Sync launched at startup, but a macOS Login Items system setting could override it. Now OneDrive Sync drops the Open at login setting and instead follows the macOS Login Item, launching in the background at startup. The Login Item is managed via configuration profile under Background Services. Review the Background Services configuration profile (opens in new tab) and deploy it. Rollout: early July 2024, completing by late July 2024.
Microsoft Copilot: scheduled prompts, recap, and Designer
Scheduled prompts
Before: users cannot schedule Copilot for Microsoft 365 prompts to run at a set time and frequency. After: hovering over a submitted prompt reveals the Scheduled prompts feature; selecting Save and activate sends the prompt information to Power Automate and Power Platform, so the Power Automate terms of service (opens in new tab) and privacy policy (opens in new tab) apply. Rollout: early October 2024, completing by late October 2024.
Intelligent recap integration in Outlook
Intelligent recap, the Teams feature that catches users up on missed meetings with AI-generated notes, follow-up tasks, name mentions, topics, chapters, and speaker identification, is now accessible from the calendar in new Outlook for Windows and the web. All new Outlook users can access Recap artifacts, with the set depending on license: Teams Premium or Copilot for Microsoft 365 licensees see the full set, others see basics like recordings, transcription, and shared files. Rollout: mid-August 2024, completing by late August 2024.
Apply All for Coaching by Copilot in Outlook
Coaching by Copilot for Outlook email now offers an Apply All button to apply the coaching feedback and rewrite the draft in one step. Rollout: early August 2024, completing by early September 2024.
Add visuals with Microsoft Designer in Copilot
Starting in July 2024, PowerPoint and Word users can generate an AI image from a prompt or pull in a stock photo through Microsoft Designer in Copilot. Rollout: July 2024.
Frequently asked questions
What do MSPs need to do before Microsoft auto-enables the managed MFA policy in August 2024?
Before August 5, 2024, review the policy's effects, set it to Off if you do not want it auto-enabled, customize it to exclude emergency access accounts, and verify every covered user has registered at least one MFA method, running a registration campaign if needed.
When do unlicensed OneDrive accounts become inaccessible?
After the storage policy takes effect in your tenant, any OneDrive account unlicensed for more than 90 days is archived automatically. For example, an account unlicensed on August 1, 2025 becomes inaccessible to users as of October 1, 2025. Admins can view these accounts under SharePoint admin center > Reports > OneDrive accounts.
What replaces sending user passwords by email after August 30, 2024?
Use the new Print option in the Microsoft admin center to save user account details and share them securely. Admins can no longer receive usernames and passwords by email after this change.
Microsoft is about to enforce MFA. Will any tenant break?
Before the managed policy flips on, CloudCapsule shows you which users lack a registered MFA method and where Conditional Access exclusions hide, across every tenant you manage. 250+ controls in 60 seconds. Note: it does not run against M365 dev tenants.
Run a free assessment
Written by
Nick Ross
CEO · Microsoft MVP · Founder, T-Minus 365
Nick is not just a CEO, he's a respected thought leader and influencer in the MSP space. Tens of thousands of MSPs learn through his YouTube channel, T-Minus365. Nick has been honored as a three-time Microsoft MVP for his educational content; his expertise and influence are the backbone of our mission, ensuring that you are in the best hands when it comes to security.
Nick joined Pax8 in 2017, where he would ultimately oversee product management for PSA and Microsoft integrations. Following his tenure at Pax8, Nick has continued to demonstrate his leadership prowess as an executive at various MSPs, culminating in his most recent role at Sourcepass.
Nick holds a Bachelor's Degree in Business Management from Florida State University, as well as a Minor Degree in Entrepreneurship. In his free time, Nick is an avid hiker, reader, and fitness-junkie.
